Tag Archives: victoria day

WHAT: VICTORIA DAY FIREWORKS 2015WHY: PUBLIC HOLIDAY – VICTORIA DAY (IN FRENCH FETE DE LA REINE) – CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTHDAY OF QUEEN VICTORIA IN CANADAWHEN: MONDAY 18th MAY 2015WHERE: ACROSS CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES

This coming weekend Canadians celebrate Victoria Day across the country in honour of Queen Victoria’s and the current Queen Elizabeth’s birthdays. The celebration of this day has been observed since 1845 and continues to bring everyone together to celebrate life and mark the start of the Summer time.

Commonly referred to as ‘May two four’ in reference to Queen Victoria’s date of birth 24th May 1819 there are events all over Canada and its provinces. In the City of Victoria (named of course after the Queen) they hold an annual parade. This year marks the 117th of its kind and the event will feature floats and marching bands before the gathered 100,000 spectators.

All across Canada there is a massive Monarchist League who support the constitutional Monarchy (where the queen is acknowledged but not as a ruler – more in a ceremonial fashion) to such a degree that they go the extra mile in celebrating everything ‘British’. Many of the events on offer are British themed with bunting and the Union Flag (Union Jack) and of course High Tea including English Tea, tiny crust-less sandwiches, fruit tarts and fresh cream scones with jam. They even import a rich fruity Port actually bottled for Buckingham Palace (at a mere £30.00 a pop) and dress up in hats, gloves and bow ties for the event. Some go the whole hog and wear period dress from the Victorian period.

Over in New Westminster, British Columbia, they celebrate with a spot of anvil firing. This is an age-old tradition which has been followed for the last 145 years. It began in 1870 to celebrate a 21 gun salute without the guns. Usually, gunpowder is put between two anvils and when it is lit, the combustion lifts the top one high into the air and on dropping down, it makes a noise like a cannon.

In addition to all the British Themed events this day also marks the start of the fruit/vegetable and flower planting season.

Of course, there will be loads of FIREWORKS. Not only the organised events but many have family and friends over to enjoy a BBQ and watch some pyro.

Two of the biggest displays are in Toronto: the first, above the harbour and the second at Ashbridges Bay Park at 10:00pm. The first over the harbour is the work of Rocket Fireworks and the second, Archangel Fireworks Inc. Archangel were worthy winners of the Honda Celebration of Light in 2007 and 2008 make no mistake about it these are some of the best in the firework world.

Monday 19th May 2014 marks Victoria Day across Canada. The day was originally celebrated since before Canada was actually formed.

The Union Jack will be flown from all government buildings from sunrise to sunset and the people of Canada see this holiday as the start of Summer and it is one of the most celebrated early bank holidays of the year.

Victoria Day began in celebration of Queen Victoria’s 26th birthday in 1845 and was decreed by law following her death in 1901 to be recognised accordingly.

The celebrations in Canada are wide and varied and many of them include family entertainment at the core. Some of the facilities and entertainment on offer around the provinces are as follows:

New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan will be on the agenda to be visited by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall as part of their Diamond Jubilee Commonwealth tour.

Yesterday while visiting Toronto they were treated to the massive fireworks display at Ashbridge’s Bay to celebrate Victoria Day known in French as “fete de la reine”.

Victoria Day is a Canadian federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday nearest to May the 24th, known in some parts of Canada as May two-four, which is also a local reference to a 24 pack of beer.

It has long been established that May 24th was Queen Victoria’s official birthday (made law in 1845 by the Parliament of the Province of Canada) and these days is maintained as the day of celebration for the current Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

A New Westminster tradition which sounds like fun, known as the “hyack anvil battery salute”, involves putting vast quantities of gunpowder between to blacksmiths anvils (the top one is turned upside down) then igniting the fuse to fire the anvil high into the sky.